Education news

AZUSA, Calif. — A senior at Azusa Pacific University, received the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Young Scholar Award for Public Policy Research Values & Capitalism for 2016-17.

Only four research projects out of a competitive pool of submissions from Christian colleges across the country were selected. Tess Scherkenback’s research project entitled, “Helping the Homeless: A Model of Public and Private Sector Partnership in Los Angeles County” addresses the gap between public and private social policy relating to homelessness. Scherkenback’s research focuses on the city of Glendora’s model for assisting their local homeless population.

In April 2017, Scherkenback will defend her research in front of a panel of policy analysts and experts at the AEI institute in Washington D.C. Scherkenback’s research hypothesizes that local and community-based support toward homelessness is more cost-effective and beneficial on a case-by-case basis than state and federal government initiatives. As part of the award, she will receive a $5,000 scholarship toward her college tuition, an invitation to the 2017 AEI annual gala dinner, publication of her project in the Values and Capitalism blog, and opportunities to further contribute to the blog. Scherkenback’s project was also nominated as one of APU’s 2016-17 Scholarly Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) projects.

“The motivation behind this project is to bring awareness to the wonderful partnerships between the public and private sector that exist locally to assist the homeless in our community,” said Scherkenback. “It provides an unprecedented opportunity to showcase our local community churches and their initiatives to help the homeless.”

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